


The Good, Sad, and Utterly Devastating life of Wheatley Arbory

by FreakyLoveStory



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-01-11 11:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreakyLoveStory/pseuds/FreakyLoveStory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In life, there are sad moments, like your only sister losing her life to cancer or getting kicked out of medical school. Yet, there are also happy moments amongst them, such as falling in love or facing an old foe and winning. It’s up to you which ones you decide are more important.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Portal AU.

"Mr. Arbory, your test results should be in about five minutes.” Spoke a tall, handsome man around the age of thirty. The man he was speaking to was in nothing but a hospital gown and a pair of socks.

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice Doctor Archer. It’s just that my blood pressure got low and I, well, you know how it scares me how it does that and…" Mr. Arbory spoke with a posh British accent, had a tall, lean figure, and stammered on nearly every word. He continued to babble on until the Doctor put his hand on his shoulder, signaling that he had heard enough.

"Wheatley, it’s alright. You’ve been worried about your health ever since your sister passed away. It’s only natural you’re concerned." He spoke sternly, clasping a hand onto his shoulder before briskly exiting, leaving Wheatley to his own thoughts. He quickly began to clean his glasses, a nervous habit he developed over the years, and sighed. He had only come here put of nervousness and quickly regretted it as soon as he stepped into the building and locked eyes with the head supervisor, Caroline. Caroline was a lean woman with dark hair and nearly black eyes and Wheatley could have sworn that she was some sort of demon sent to torment him. She was much more intimidating than Wheatley, with his straw-colored hair, and extremely bright blue eyes.

"Oh, it’s you again."

" Hello, Caroline. How are you?"

"Was doing great until I saw you." Wheatley and Caroline had a, er, complicated past. They had been in medical school together until Wheatley had ‘left’ (gotten kicked out,) due to a little incident involving one their partner exams and the fire department. He sighed, returning to present day. He glanced up just quick enough to see that Caroline had gone on her way and replacing her was the founder of Aperture Hospitals, Mr. Cave Johnson, talking to Doctor Archer.

"Oh God. Are they talking about me? Am I dying? I hope I'm not dying, that would be an awful bit of bad news. Caroline would be dancing on my grave though.” In between Wheatleys paranoid filled questions, he heard some words in between:

"Mute… Assistant… Nice girl… She won’t get paid much…"

As soon as they were finished talking about this girl, Doctor Harbor arrived with his test results. All fine, just that he needed to de-stress a bit more. Wheatley had gotten re-dressed into his light blue, long-sleeved shirt and khakis and was headed toward the front door. As Wheatley was leaving, he turned his head to see if Caroline was giving him one of her usual ‘Even though it was years ago, I still hate you with a passion of a thousand suns’ looks. Instead of finding any reason to glare at Wheatley, she was talking to a young, tanned woman. He could only see the right side of her head where she was standing, but he thought he saw gray eyes and. Couldn’t be anymore then twenty-one. Keep in mind, Wheatley hadn’t meant to listen to their conversation, it just sort of happened.

"Now Chell, listen to me very carefully. I need you to take these boxes outside and grab new ones from the truck next to the dumpster in the back. Can you do that?” She sounded as though she were instructing a toddler to pick up its toys.  
"…" Instead of speaking, the girl, Chell, gave a curt nod and grabbed one of the boxes. It was then he noticed how much more built this girl was than him and Caroline could ever really hope to be.

"Wow. So you really are a mute, aren’t you? Great, this is gonna be fun.” Caroline spoke with malice, rubbing her temple. As she began to turn, Wheatley decided that eavesdropping time was over and that it was time to leave. He straightened himself out and briskly walked out the door, not noticing someone was behind him until he heard a loud bang and a quiet thud, followed by a much louder thud.

"Oh my dear God- I am so sorry. I didn’t see you, I swear." The girl rose her hand gently, as though to tell him all was forgiven. She had begun to carry the boxes when his mouth had decided to make words on its own.

"You need some help with that stuff, lady? Looks heavy." Wheatley quickly took back what he said, thinking he had offended her since she wouldn’t stop giving him this odd, blank look.

"I mean, unless you don’t need my help, since you look stronger than about ten of me. Not that you look like a man, of course, you look rather like a lady. Uhhh-” Whenever he gets nervous, he rambles, and whenever he rambles, people got annoyed, and when people got annoyed, he usually gets hit. Instead of hitting him or telling him to stop making a fool of himself, she gave him a shy smile and waved off the offer.  
Wheatley blinked.

"Are you positive?"

A nod.

"Okay, if you say so. Well, perhaps sign so." This earned him and even bigger smile from her and a small wave as she walked off, the box now under her arm.

"My name is Wheatley." He spoke with such nervousness, his voice cracked, leaving a small blush on his face. Why was he doing this? Pressing his luck? He was already lucky she hadn’t punched him for knocking the box over. He saw Chell turn around and nodded.

"And you’re Chell." He spoke in a matter-a-fact voice, seeing her nod again. He took another huge breath and backed up, causing him to crash into a poor man who just wanted to make a phone call.

"Sorry, mate." He apologized as he turned back to Chell seeing her pointing in the direction of the truck, meaning she had to go actually do her job.

"Right then, so I’ll be seeing you then, Chell. Take care." He spoke quickly as he saw her give him a thumbs up and walk towards the truck as he nearly sprinted back to his car, opening and closing the doors as fast as he could, and allowed his heart to stop beating in his ears. He licked his dry lips and allowed his pulse to slow, all the while getting ready to leave. There was only one thing running through his mind as he exited the parking lot and got on the expressway.

"What the hell came over me back there?" Wheatley usually knew when to stop making a complete fool out of himself, it was a very useful skill to have when you’ve had this problem most of your life, but he didn’t want to stop talking to her. He wanted to get to know her, be her friend. He also wanted to hear her voice, but given by that first meeting the chances of that happening were extremely slim. In his head, it was decided; he would go visit her tomorrow after work and try to get to know her better. He couldn’t yet explain the dry throat and nervous stomach when he first thought of the idea, so he just brushed it off as a fear of her thinking he was some sort of creep.

By the time Wheatley reached his apartment, the sun was in the middle of the sky. He sighed, Wheatley’s appointment was at nine, and it was already noon. He decided it best if he kept his embarrassing story from his roommate, Kevin. Instead of eating lunch like a rational human being who hadn’t eaten since six o’clock in the morning, he decided to take a nap, and who knows, maybe he wouldn’t make such an ass out of himself when he saw her tomorrow


	2. Chapter 2

Wheatley woke up from his nap at three twenty-nine in the afternoon and it was not a peaceful awakening. He reason he woke up was because his roommate, Kevin, had decided it was the perfect time to ask Wheatley if he could borrow his car.

"C'mon, Wheatley."

"No."

"But why?" Because you'll run it into a ditch? You'll forget to fill it up on the way back and I'll end up on the side of the road somewhere while going to work? You'll do something even worse? And before you ask, this is Wheatley's third car since he moved in with Kevin.

"Because the last time you borrowed my car it 'mysteriously' got a dent the size of a creator in it!" Wheatley very rarely stood up for himself, let alone yelled at anyone, but he was cranky, frustrated, and now that he woke up, he was very hungry.

"That was, like, a year ago. I just wanted to get some milk and stuff from the store. We're out." Wheatley looked at his roommate skeptically. It wasn't that he didn't want to believe him, Kevin had just proven himself incapable of doing much of anything right. Maybe that's why Wheatley liked him, he could relate. He sighed.

"And us being out of 'milk and stuff' was worth waking me up from my nap?" Kevin nodded, his dark brown hair getting in the way of his eyes. No wonder he couldn't drive, he could barley see past off of his hair. It didn't didn't help that he was literally five foot two or that his eyesight was a mere single digit from considered being legally blind.

"You have work tomorrow."

"Yes, and you're point."

"My point is that if you sleep too much now, you'll wake up at around midnight. If you wake up around midnight, you'll stay up for another four hours at least. If you do that you'll fall asleep at work again and-" Wheatley sighed. I guess he knew how it felt to be on the other end of the ramble for once. He guessed he was kind of glad his friend had woken him up, he was already in enough trouble for falling asleep at work already. His stomach made a loud, grumbling noise, demanding it be filled or it just begin to eat itself.

"Wheatley?"

"Yes?"

"Have you eaten? At all?"

"I had breakfast."

"At what time?"

". . . "  
"Dammit, Wheatley! Keep a constant eating schedule!" Wheatley groaned. He knew his friend was only worried about him. There were days he would go where the only thing he ate was an apple. 

"Since we're out of 'milk and stuff,' you want to go out and get food?" Kevin nodded, still slightly glaring at Wheatley. Wheatley sighed. Kevin just happened to be a huge health advocate, so doing this kind of thing pissed him off royally. As they walked out to his car, he heard Kevin groan.

"Are you ever going to get a new car?"

"I already ha-" He was cut off by Kevin shushing him.

"I mean a NEW new one."

"What's wrong with this one?" Wheatley's voice was muffled by the door closing and sounds of him starting the engine and unlocking the door for Kevin. After a few tugs, the door unlocked for him and he slid in.

"It's from 1995."

"So?" Wheatley actually felt offended. His car was perfectly fine, thank you very much. It got him where he needed to go and had air conditioning. 

"So? Don't you want a girl to like you, Wheat? You need a cool car."

"Oh my God, you really buy that crap?" Wheatley laughed to himself as Kevin crossed his arms and pouted like a two-year-old. "That's simply one of the most ridiculous things the human race has ever come up with." Kevin sighed. He knew it really was 'one of the most ridiculous things,' but it made sense to him. 

"I just assumed that's why you don't go out much is all." Kevin wanted to approach this with caution. Ever since Wheatley's sister passed away, he hadn't gotten out much. Kevin may like to make fun of his friend, but he was genuinely concerned for him. She passed away three months ago and, yes, mourning was important in this type of thing, but he still needed to do things like eat regularly and go out. Kevin could hear Wheatley sigh. 

"No, mate. I just don't go out because there's really nothing out there for me to do is all."

"Go out and see a movie? Eat? Be somewhere that isn't inside or at work?"

"Right." More and more annoyance present in his voice as he pulled into the parking lot of a local Denny's. "And who would I do this stuff with? You?"

"A girl, Wheat. Remember those?" Kevin began to match Wheatley's tone as he unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car, his friend following. 

"Yes, Kevin. I remember what a girl is. I just haven't found one that I like."

"Or will talk to you for more than five minutes." Kev added, a little more humor in his voice. 

"Thank you, Kev. Makes me feel all warm inside. But, seriously-" Just as Wheatley was about to open the door to go in, someone else had decided it was time for them to leave, and opened the door, smacking Wheatley in the face.

"Hey!" Kevin screamed as he helped his friend up and handed him back his glasses. "Watch where you're going. There was no response, no apology, no anything. And when Wheatley put his glasses back on and everything was in focus, he could see why.

"Chell!" Wheatley spoke quickly, seeing Chell was uncomfortable with this whole situation. "How are you." She smiled and rose her hand a little, trying to ask if he was okay.

"Oh, this? I'm fine. Don't worry about ol' Wheatley." He smiled at her and, though a little forced, she smiled back, genuinely happy he was alright. Kevin coughed, causing the two of them to look back at the forgotten friend. 

"So what? You're just not going to apologize." Wheatley grew extremely irritated until he remembered: Kevin didn't know Chell couldn't talk.

"Kevin, Chell-"

"Yeah? Chell what?"

"She's mute, Kev."

"Oh. Okay. I get it. Why don't you apologize to him?!" He spoke extemely loud, earning him a swift slap to the back of the head.

"Do you know whay 'mute' means?"

"Of course I do."

"Alright then. What's it mean."

"That you can't hear well." This earned him an eye roll from Chell and another slap from Wheatley.

"It means something happened to her in her life and now she can't speak." Kevin's eyes widened as he look at Chell and back to Wheatley.

"I feel like a douche." 

"As you should."

"Look, Chell is it? I'm sorry-" She put her hand on his shoulder and smiled, accepting his apology. 

"Well, this has been a lot of trouble for everyone involved. So, if you'll excuse us, Chell, we really need to leave." Kevin spoke out of embarressment, wanting to get out of there before he made and even bigger ass out of himself. "C'mon, Wheatley." 

"In a minute, Kev." Wheatley turned back to Chell, who tried to look as calm as she could after having to deal with that. "Sorry about him. He can be a bit slow at times, like everyone. So I guess I'll see you around? Chell nodded and stuck out her hand.

"You want me to shake it?" She gave him an extremely sarcastic look and nodded. Wheatley took her hand in his  
.  
"Well, until we see each other again." He said, letting go and walking towards Kevin as Chell walked across the street to the apartment buildings. As Kevin and Wheatley walked in, Wheatley could feel his friends eyes burning holes in to the back of his head.

"What is it?" He asked in a harsh whisper as the two men sat down, waiting for a waitress.

"Nothing." Kevin spoke in a normal voice, completely calm, "Just that you forgot to tell me when you made a new. . . friend." Wheatley could feel the smirk that came with the word 'friend.'

"I met her earlier today.I'm lucky she didn't punch me out, to be honest." He noticed Kevin wasn't really listening to him since a waitress had come to take their order. He trusted Kevin enough to order for him. He would've judged what he ate anyway. 

"Yeah? What did you do?" 

"I, uh, may have knocked several heavy boxes out of her hands." Kevin put his head down on the table. It wasn't until Wheatley heard a snort and saw him shaking that he realized he was laughing.

"Dammit, Kevin!" 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just that you would do something like that is all." He spoke with amusement and thanked the waitress, just noticing they were there with the food.   
"I wanted to see her tomorrow." Wheatley began until Kev cut him off. 

"Awww. That's cute, Wheat. Real cute." He could feel the heat rushing to his face as he looked down at his 'dinner' of a Grand Slam.

"You know it's four thirty?"

"Yeah?" Kevin said with a moth full of scrambled eggs, "and?" Wheatley rolled his eyes and began cutting a pancake. 

"Still, though. Chell is pretty cute." Kevin said, finishing off what was left of his egg. Wheatley glanced up at him.

"In a way, yes." He knew where Kevin was going with this conversation and figured it best to just go along with it. 

"So? Ask her out or something."

"No."

"No? Why no?"

"I want a friend, Kev. Nothing more." He said as calmly as he could as he finished what was left of his pancakes. 

"Yeah. It sure looked that way." Kevin could fee his friend glaring at him as he ate what was left of his meal. He couldn't help but smile when he heard Wheatley sigh and grumble 'yeah sure, whatever.' As both boys payed the check and and walked back to the car, Kevin couldn't help but notice Wheatley was unusually quiet. Maybe he had pushed that conversation a little too far. 

"Hey, man, listen. I don't know if I said something or-" He was cut off with a confused noise from Wheatley.

"Mate, you didn't say anything. I'm just tired is all. I have work tomorrow." They got back in the car and drove out of the parking lot in silence all the way until they arrived home. As they walked inside, Kevin noticed Wheatley headed straight towards his room.

"Are you still gonna see her tomorrow?"

"Hmm?"

"Chell. Are you still-"

"Oh yeah. I still want to be her friend. None of that's changed."

"Okay, good. I still want you out of this damn house more." Wheatley gave a light chuckle before bidding his friend a goodnight.

By the time Wheatley had showered, gotten his night clothes on, and did everything he needed to do, it was eight thirty. He had to be up by five, so he decided it was time to sleep and plan on how he wasn't going to Chell out when he went to see her tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

There was nothing but blackness. Nothing except a small voice with no distinct location. At first, it sounds almost as if it's crying out in fear, begging to be saved. Wheatley's breath quickened as he felt his heart speed up. He hated this dream; she was in this dream. Wheatley did the only thing he could do and looked around aimlessly, calling out. 

"Hello? Who's there?" Nothing but more cries, and now the added shouting, were there. 

Wheatley could feel himself trembling, he could feel this throat grow tighter and yet he did nothing except call out.

"This isn't funny anymore! Just tell me where you are, please! I want to help!" Wheatley's voice grew more and more strained as he tried to blink back the tears welling up in his eyes. He knew exactly who it was, he always did, he could never say her name. She was like a word at the tip of his tongue and just barely grasped it before it was forgotten.

"You? Help me? Ha! You couldn't help me then and you can't now." The voice grew extremely cold and bitter. Wheatley's heart nearly stopped beating. He didn't understand, usually the voice would say 'you can't' and the dream would just end. Wheatley realized that he had been walking around with his head down, never bothering to look up and the now human-like figure ahead of him. He felt his gut lurch forward.

"Who are-"

"You know who I am." He couldn't believe he was talking to her. He could finally figure out who this woman is, what she wanted, why she thought he knew her.

"I honestly don't. Care to explain." He crossed his arms and began tapping his foot, waiting. Until she did something odd, she laughed. Not maniacally or anything sinister, just a small, quiet chuckle. Wheatley's eyes widened and his arms dropped to his sides. Her name was right there, right on the tip of his tongue. All he needed was a clue. Yes! A clue.

"Please! Anything! Just tell me!" Wheatley was desperate. He had begged plenty of times in his life, but this was the first time he felt like it wasn't just because he wanted something. No. He needed to know this, remember this voice. The figure sighed, dropping her head so she was now looking at Wheatley's feet.

"Wheatley. . . Remember this, please" He nodded, "Remember my voice. That's your hint. My voice. Please Wheatley. I know the past has been hard, but you need to remember me to help you. Just-" with a quick gust of wind and slight chime sound, she was gone. Wheatley stood there, mouth open and eyes blinking back tears. 

"Remember her voice? What good will that do? I don't-" Soon enough, he found himself upright in his bed, his breathing heavy and he could feel tear streaks on his face. He quickly wiped off his face, put on his glasses, and checked the time. 

"Six o'clock" Wheatley sighed. He didn't need to be up for another hour, but he knew he wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon. He threw the covers off of him and walked down the hall, he could hear his roommate snoring lightly as he passed his door. He got the bathroom, his eyes still slightly red, and stepped in the shower. 

The water was lukewarm, but Wheatley didn't mind. The pressure was nice and he was able to clear his thoughts before going to work. 

After what seemed like a few minutes, he stepped out of the shower and put on his work attire: a light blue-collar shirt and khakis. He checked the time and he felt his heart nearly stop. It was 7: 30. He was in the shower for an hour and half.

He quickly put on his clothes, ran out to the hall to put his shoes on, grabbed his keys, and ran as fast as anyone had ever seen him run before, right to his car. He started it and its wheels screeched as it quickly sped down the road onto the highway.

By speeding, nearly hitting a poor man who simply wanted a coffee, and blazing through three red lights, Wheatley made it to work by 8:30. Wheatley didn't really feel guilty for what he did, afterall, no one was hurt in the end. 

He took a seat at his desk and turned his computer on. As his programs were starting to load, he heard a familiar voice from down his hallway. He took a quick peek and noticed it was his boss, Mr. Gordonson. He felt his heart beat faster and he slunk more into his chair.

'Bullocks. What if he knows what I did to get here on time?' Mr. Gordonson was a large, tall man about the age of fifty. He was slightly bald and had a thick, burly mustache. Yet all Mr. Gordonson did was glance over at Wheatley, barely acknowledging his presence, and calmly walked over to his own office. Wheatley let out a sigh he didn’t know he was holding in. He turned towards his computer and began typing. 

Wheatley hated his job. Well, hate was a very strong word, but if he had the choice to light the building on fire with nearly everyone inside, there would be a 911 call and a blonde, British man half way across the country as soon as possible. 

‘Dear Lord, I really do have problems.’ After all, Wheatley was never the most mentally stable person out there. In high school, Wheatley had been diagnosed (and falsely, might he add) with paranoia and anxiety. So he was taking Hydroxyzine and Phenothiazines. Even though the Phenothiazines gave him extreme side effects, he still took them. They made him numb and he wasn’t thinking as much, which was something he could get use to. His sister was actually the one person he confided in a week or two in. She told the doctor and he immediately took him off both of his medications, claiming that he could have developed a serious dependency. He couldn’t really remember the rest, all he remembered was that he cried and his sister held him. Now he just bottled up everything. Probably not the best thing to do, but it was better than walking around like a zombie. 

Wheatley broke from his nostalgic trip and looked at the computer. He realized he had been mindlessly typing his reports for about thirty minutes. He sighed and glanced at the time. 

‘9:30, eh. Only two and half hours left until lunch.’ Wheatley was deadlocked on being Chell’s friend. Like Kevin said, he needed someone other than him to hang out with. Also, she seemed like she wasn’t too fond of Caroline, another bonus in his book. 

His day seemed to just drag on and on, boring conversation after another. The minutes were ticking by slower than an old man typing. Finally, noon happened, and he made a beeline for the door and to his car. He got out of there faster than anyone had ever seen a man go. 

Wheatley couldn’t explain it, but he had second thoughts about this. He was at the hospital parking lot, he saw Chell through the window -and no, he can assure you he didn’t mean to sound like a stalker- and he could feel his legs grow heavy. The dream, if you could even call it that, was starting to take its toll on him in the form of exhaustion. He looked in the window before deciding that if he didn’t do this now, he would never do it. He got out of the car and walked towards the door. He took a deep breath and he swung open the door. As soon as he entered, he was greeted with the friendly smile of Chell and an annoyed groan from Caroline. 

“Ugh! What are you doing here? You don’t have appointments ever on Tuesday.”

“Aw, you keep track of when I’m not here?”

“Yeah, it’s the one day I’m able to look forward to.”

“Ditto.” From the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw Chell laugh silently into her hand. “Anyway, I’m here to talk to Chell.”

“Why?”

“I want to talk to her.” Chell looked at him, wide-eyed. He saw confusion and glints of gratitude. Being Caroline’s underling must not have been easy. Caroline sighed.

“You know what. Fine. Just go. With you two gone, I’ll probably be able to get work done.”

“What work.” Wheatley mumbled so only Chell could hear, causing her to smile. He decided in that moment that he liked when she smiled and he liked the he caused it.

“What was that?” Caroline snapped at them, causing him to face forward.

“Nothing, nothing. Come on, Chell. Let’s go.”


End file.
